濤

Components:

水 (물 수, “water”) — semantic;

壽 (목숨 수, “longevity”) — phonetic.

The character is composed of 水, indicating the meaning related to water, and 壽, supplying the pronunciation.

The combination emphasizes the powerful, vast, or majestic quality of waves, often used to describe crashing sea waves, turbulence, or dramatic flows in literature.

濤 is a rich, expressive character for powerful water motion, frequently used in literature, idioms, and poetic imagery to evoke grandeur or turbulence.

Often appears in poetic or literary contexts:

波濤 (파도) – waves, often emphasizing large or stormy ones;

濤聲 (도성) – sound of waves;

驚濤駭浪 (경도해랑) – idiom meaning "stormy seas" or metaphorically "great turmoil."